Inside the Russian Murder Mystery with Alexei Bayer

Crime fiction, the popular literary genre, takes center stage at this Sanctuary Series with New York-based author Alexei Bayer. Exploring the genre through the lens of English, American, and Russian literature, Bayer will discuss the tropes and narrative styles of detective novels, as well as their influence on his own writing.

Alexei Bayer is an established writer based in New York. He is an author of several books, literary translations, and short story publications in leading US literary journals. Bayer came to the United States at the age of 19 in 1975. He studied at Columbia University, where he received a BA in Italian Literature and got an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has had a career as an economist and economic consultant, writing on economics, politics and the political economy. Bayer’s short fiction has been published by Kenyon Review, New England Review, Salamander, Readings and other literary journals. He is the author of three murder mysteries set in Moscow in the early 1960s. The first, Murder at the Dacha came out in 2013, followed by Latchkey Murders in 2015. The third work in the series, Murder and the Muse, was published in December 2016 and the fourth is currently in the works.

The Sanctuary Series was developed in support of Fleisher’s mission to make art accessible to everyone. The series provides low-commitment learning experience for our creative community to explore its interest in the arts. Supporting and supplementing Fleisher’s regular class and workshop offerings, Sanctuary Series events range from artist talks, film screenings, musical and dance performances, as well as hands on workshops. The Sanctuary Series is free and open to the public.